New Delhi (IANS) : The legislators of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) are scheduled to meet President Pratibha Patil here Tuesday evening to press for their combine’s claim to form a government in Karnataka.
“All the MLAs are in town and we are meeting the president at 6 p.m.,” a BJP functionary here said.
He said former BJP president M. Venkaiah Naidu would lead the delegation with Karnataka BJP legislature party leader B.S. Yediyurappa and BJP national general secretary Ananth Kumar.
Yediyurappa, who leads the group of 80 BJP legislators, has staked claim to form a government in Karnataka with the assured support of 49 JD-S legislators.
The BJP and JD-S will appeal to Patil to revoke president’s rule in the state, imposed on Oct 9, as Karnataka Governor Rameshwar Thakur has not yet sent a report to the central government to do so.
The state was placed under the president’s rule and the assembly was kept in suspended animation after the BJP withdrew support to a JD-S-led coalition government. The two parties, however, patched up and the JD-S presented to the governor a letter supporting a BJP government.
JD-S leader and former chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy also arrived here with the JD-S MLAs and they will accompany the BJP delegation to Rashtrapati Bhawan, JD-S general secretary and spokesman Kunwar Danish Ali confirmed.
“We don’t want to do anything which will give the impression that we are obstructing the formation of a government in the state. But now it is for the governor to use his discretion and do the best for the state,” Ali said.
Meanwhile, the governor, who arrived here Monday night, has “so far no other plans in the capital except attending the International Conference on Federalism”, said an official accompanying him.
“He will attend the afternoon session of the conference and tomorrow he has to chair one of the sessions,” the official said.